Reston, Va. (April 7, 2011) —New evidence-based guidelines to help health care providers choose the most appropriate medical imaging exam for a patient’s clinical condition are now available via the latest version of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Appropriateness Criteria®.

In the latest version, the ACR updated more than 40 appropriateness criteria topics and added seven new criteria — including abdominal aortic aneurysm: interventional planning and follow-up; management of vertebral compression fractures; acute trauma to the foot; hematospermia; advanced cervical cancer; role of adjuvant therapy in the management of early stage cervical cancer and adjuvant therapy for resected squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

The ACR Appropriateness Criteria are developed to help referring physicians and other providers in making the most appropriate imaging or treatment decision for a specific clinical condition. By employing these guidelines, providers enhance quality of care and contribute to the most efficacious use of radiology.

“ACR Appropriateness Criteria provide education and guidance — for patients and doctors — on how best to use imaging,” said Michael Bettmann, MD, chair of the ACR Appropriateness Criteria committee.“They are an excellent resource for any healthcare provider considering ordering an imaging study. We strongly urge radiologists to encourage their referring physicians to consider use of ACR Appropriateness Criteria in their clinical decision making,” said Bettmann.

The criteria include topics from expert panels in breast, cardiac, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, neurologic, thoracic, urologic, pediatric, vascular, and women’s imaging, as well as interventional radiology and radiation oncology. There are more than 175 topics with over 850 variants available.

Physicians can access the criteria through all major mobile platforms and Windows desktop PC via the Anytime Anywhere™ application. Powered by Skyscape, a worldwide leader in mobile medical information, the app provides instance access to all of the criteria.

For more information about the ACR Appropriateness Criteria, including the new Anytime, Anywhere™ application, visit www.acr.org/ac.

The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 34,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of radiology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.